Friday, April 11, 2014

Things start close in New Hampshire Senate race

A new poll in New Hampshire has former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown (R) within striking distance of incumbent Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. If you haven't been keeping up, Brown lost his Massacusetts U.S Senate seat to Elizaberth Warren (D) in 2012, and has decided that maybe things would go better for him if he drove his pick-up truck over to New Hampshire for the 2014 midterms.

The WMUR Granite State Poll shows Shaheen leading Brown by 6 percentage points, 45 to 39 percent. In its last poll of the race, conducted in January, Shaheen led by 10, 47-37.

Curiously, as the Washington Post reports, the "close race belies the fact that Shaheen remains much better-liked in her home state than Brown is."

Shaheen is seen favorably by 49 percent of New Hampshire voters and unfavorably by 35 percent. Thirty-nine percent have an unfavorable view of Brown, while 29 percent have a favorable one.

Sometimes polling can be is so confusing. Perhaps we should just agree at this point that this race appears to be competitive going in.